I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to amplifiers.
II. Background
Amplifiers are commonly used in various electronic devices to provide signal amplification. Different types of amplifiers are available for different uses. For example, a wireless communication device such as a cellular phone may include a transmitter and a receiver for bi-directional communication. The transmitter may include a driver amplifier (DA) and a power amplifier (PA), the receiver may include a low noise amplifier (LNA), and the transmitter and receiver may include variable gain amplifiers (VGAs).
Linearity is an important design goal for a power amplifier. The power amplifier may be designed to meet linearity requirements by using sufficiently large transistors and applying appropriate biasing. The power amplifier may have extra margin in linearity, which may then be used to boost efficiency of the power amplifier and reduce current consumption. Extra linearity margin may also be used to reduce transistor size and may lead to saving of chip area as well as cost. A power amplifier with good linearity may thus be highly desirable.